Commands
March 6, 2011 § Leave a comment
When one is doing a command, one is directing another person to do something. The audience is either one person (tu), a group of people (vous) , an unknown audience (as in written instructions such as a recipe), or ourselves (let’s do _____). For each of these audiences, we conjugate the verb according to the audience.
1. for a basic command to another person, conjugate the verb for “tu”. For regular ‘er’ verbs, and for aller, drop the ‘s’. *the only irregular verbs are savoir, être, and avoir – the conjugations for them are listed at the very bottom of the page*
listen – écoute
pay attention – fais attention
eat your dinner – mange ton dîner
wait – attends
2. for a basic command for vous, conjugate the verb for ‘vous’. There are no changes for ‘er’ verbs nor for aller.
listen – écoutez
do your homework – faites vos devoirs
wait – attendez
3. when the audience is unknown, as in instructions, leave the verb in the infinitive form
prepare a sauce with lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper – préparer une sauce avec le jus de citron, l’huile, du sel, et du poivre
peel and chop the onion – peler et hacher l’oignon
4. Let’s ________!
let’s dance – dansons
let’s go – allons-y
let’s eat – mangeons
| pronoun | être | avoir | savoir | vouloir |
| tu | sois | aie | sache | |
| nous | soyons | ayons | sachons | |
| vous | soyez | ayez | sachez | veuillez |
French Notes 
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